Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify whether the prior industry experience (IE) or industry leadership experience (ILE) of the head might influence the department’s publication output, the ability to acquire external research funds or its entrepreneurial activities (e.g. the commercialization of research results through patents). Design/methodology/approach The study is based on data from 208 Austrian university departments and combines data from different sources (CVs of the heads of departments, commercial register, funding data and publication data). Findings The results show a positive relationship between ILE and the patent output of the departments as one indicator for the commercialization of research activities. Low positive effects of IE on the extent of third-party funding were also found. Furthermore, the scientific experience of the head of department has a positive influence on the publication output of the whole department. Practical implications The findings suggest that the scientific ability of researchers should be key when selecting the head of a department, due to the fact that scientific performance is still essential for most of these units. However, when universities seek to focus more strongly on other, for example, entrepreneurial activities, then additional competencies come into play. As the actual focus of universities is currently subject to change, former IE and ILE will become increasingly more important and the heads of departments will play a decisive role in the transition toward becoming an entrepreneurial university. Therefore, universities are well advised to integrate these experiences in the job specifications and to establish processes that facilitate the change from an industrial to a university job or which allow “double lives” in university and industry. Originality/value Previous studies have mostly investigated the role of the scientific experience of academic leaders in the research performance of their institution in later decades. This study examines the actual relevance of previous entrepreneurial experiences of heads of departments to the departments’ research performance, the ability to acquire external research funds or their entrepreneurial activities.

中文翻译：

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部门负责人的行业和领导经验及其对公立大学绩效的影响

目的本文的目的是确定负责人的先前行业经验（IE）或行业领导经验（ILE）是否会影响该部门的出版物输出，获得外部研究资金的能力或其创业活动（例如，商业化通过专利获得研究成果）。设计/方法/方法这项研究基于来自208个奥地利大学系的数据，并结合了来自不同来源的数据（系主任的简历，商业注册，资金数据和出版数据）。结果结果表明，ILE与部门专利输出之间呈正相关关系，是研究活动商业化的一个指标。还发现IE对第三方资金的积极作用不高。此外，部门负责人的科学经验对整个部门的出版物产出有积极的影响。实际意义研究结果表明，研究人员的科学能力在选择部门负责人时应该是关键的，因为对于大多数这些部门而言，科学绩效仍然至关重要。但是，当大学试图更加专注于其他活动（例如，创业活动）时，其他能力就会发挥作用。由于当前大学的实际重点可能会发生变化，以前的IE和ILE将变得越来越重要，部门主管将在向创业型大学过渡的过程中发挥决定性作用。因此，最好建议大学将这些经验整合到工作规范中，并建立促进从工业职位转变为大学职位或允许大学和行业“双生”的流程。原创性/价值先前的研究大多调查了学术领导者的科学经验在其后几十年的研究业绩中的作用。本研究考察了部门负责人以前的创业经验与部门的研究绩效，获得外部研究资金的能力或其创业活动之间的实际相关性。原创性/价值先前的研究大多调查了学术领导者的科学经验在其后几十年的研究绩效中的作用。本研究考察了部门负责人以前的创业经验与部门的研究绩效，获得外部研究资金的能力或其创业活动之间的实际相关性。原创性/价值先前的研究大多调查了学术领导者的科学经验在其后几十年的研究业绩中的作用。本研究考察了部门负责人以前的创业经验与部门的研究绩效，获得外部研究资金的能力或其创业活动之间的实际相关性。